Dakota Beacon

Definition of terms:

Evolution – A gradual process in which something changes or develops into a different more complex form.

Metaphor – A figure of speech in which a term that ordinarily designates an object or idea is used to designate a dissimilar object or idea in order to suggest comparison or analogy.

Analogy – A similarity in some ways, in function or position, between things otherwise unlike.

Historical Perspective

The development of the stool is, in and of itself, a marvelous journey of faith, healing, more faith, more healing, and ultimately a stability that is very analogous to the family.

In 1885, newlywed Icelanders John Bergman and Sigurjona (Johannson) Bergman were accustomed to sitting on their stools as they rested after a hard days work on their farm near Garder, North Dakota. The stools they used were the one leg versions similar to those in use today in the field of occupational therapy to help youngsters with autism in self regulating their fidgeting in order to focus on their homework.  

The one legged stool is a metaphor for the consumption or sales tax. The roots of the consumption tax go back in history to the times when kings charged a fee for river craft to pass by their castles that were often built near rivers. “Pay or die” was the “free choice” of all who passed by the castle in watercraft. Later, kings applied consumption taxes to the barter of all goods and services, believing it to be the only really fair tax.

As time went on, the two legged stool became a useful adaptation that provided stability in at least one direction, leaving the user with the necessity of balancing at least a little on their own, but without the extreme dexterity required to mount the one legged version. A January 2010 Gallup Poll indicted that 55% of Americans preferred stripping Obamacare of all elements unacceptable to the Republican party, likened by Democrats to removing the third leg of a three legged stool. A previous Dakota Beacon Article explained the propensity of big spending & high taxing liberal politicians for a three legged “stool”.

                    Two Legged Stool     

Three legged “Stool” (donkey excrement)

That article discussed the three legs of the donkey “stool”, which are the local property tax, the inheritance tax (death tax), and the personal & corporate income taxes. The despised property tax is essentially a rent paid to government on ones home and business. Such a “rent”, for the elderly, is currently many times the initial monthly house payments they thought would eventually absolve them of any significant home related expenses.

The equally hated death tax is a prime example of the worst kind of taxation, that which is neither permanent nor fair. The maximum death tax was 45% in 2009, 0% in 2010, and 35% in 2011, an egregious example of how ignorant our national congress has become.

The corporate income tax is simply passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods and services. And the personal income tax strips workers of a decent take home pay by withholding the tax before the wage earner can even touch the money for a while before handing it over to government.

Why is government so inept at efficiency, innovation and resulting downsizing?

Many young people enter government because of the “security” of public service, as opposed to the “risks” associated with private enterprise. The most adverse to risk taking rise to the top levels of government bureaucracy. They prefer recliners to stools. 

Institutionalized “fear of risk-taking” among government bureaucrats impedes natural free-market advancements in process, systems, and technology that are essential to optimal success. Such lack of optimal success is what causes ever excessive taxation.

What is the three legged stool so promoted & enamored by government leadership?

The three legged stool metaphor of these leaders consists of the property tax, the income tax, and the sales tax. We are to believe that effective government involves the equalizing of the revenues from these three taxation venues. But we know equality is poverty itself.

But isn’t what we see recently a four legged stool? Isn’t Oil the fourth leg?

Oil revenues have so exceeded expectations that oil has essentially added the fourth, fifth and sixth legs, an evolution to an implement that can no longer be called a stool, instead serving the purpose of a “trough” where lazy hogs assemble to feed.

Four Legged Stool               

Six Legged Tax Revenue “Trough”

The Six Legged Tax Revenue Trough

The excessive spending that has resulted from the evolution of the “tax revenue trough” demands consideration of removal of enough “legs” to return the levels of taxation to a “stool”. The first choice of many residents of North Dakota, as reflected in the last legislative session, is to shorten the property taxation leg. But a group of imaginative North Dakotans is securing signatures toward the elimination of property taxes, a move felt by big-spending legislators that are hell-bent on re-election, to be too much, too fast.

A realistic alternative for the current legislative session, to head off the property tax elimination to be on the ballot in June 2012, involves elimination of the corporate income tax. And at the rate oil prices are rising, it may be possible for the session to also eliminate personal income taxes as well. So, near the end of the current session, look for a big move by the legislature to convert the “trough” back to a “stool” by a very large reduction or even elimination of income taxes.

And if that does not happen, you will very likely have the opportunity to eliminate the “rent you pay to the government to occupy your own home” in June 2012. Either way, citizens have viable alternatives to cutting spending and reducing taxes, a very good thing. The elimination of all income taxation would likely fuel a massive surge of businesses other than agriculture and oil. Or elimination of property taxes would fuel a massive commercial & residential building spree, also taking the pressure off of agriculture and oil to sustain our economy on their own.

Are there any other alternatives?

Go back to life’s equation, Love = Work + Courage. If we lack the courage to cut spending and taxation, we are surely headed toward bloated big government which will ultimately lead us nowhere but to the economic ruination we currently see in most of the states surrounding us. Large government, a depleted farm program, and a precipitous drop in oil price is sure to overwhelm our economy if we fail to use the prosperity of today to invest in ourselves. It’s your choice North Dakota…is it a “trough” you insist on or do we return to the more conservative “stool”?